Destiny Lost
by Suekeiichi Kaiton
Summary: Please, review!!! Ranma/Lovecraftian crossover spawned from reading too much 'Children of an Elder God' and 'Reanimator'. Akane is lost to Ranma and Saffron begins plans for revenge on the pigtailed youth. Rated 'R' for violence and disturbing imagery.
1. Reanimation of the Gods

Note: I don't own the characters, I just fool around with them.

Ranma-Cyclopean Structure Vol. 1-Destiny Lost

---

"Not more unutterable could have been the chaos of hellish sound if the pit itself had opened to release the agony of the damned, for in one inconceivable cacophony was centred all the supernatural terror and unnatural despair of animate nature. Human it could not have been-it is not in man to make such sounds"

(H.P. Lovecraft, 1922. Herbert West-Reanimator)

---

"W-who are you?" The girl, barely sixteen was brusquely shoved against the jagged walls of the inner caverns. She whimpered in fright as an immense shadow floated into view. Crushed against the stone, her amber wings were forced apart, spread around her.

"I am The One, the one that you most fear. And I've come for you, you my precious, only your blood can free me." Jet black claws scratched grooves in the stone floor as the attacker dragged them towards the ledge.

"No! I-I'm just a simple noble really! I have nothing to offer you! No! Don't-!" A short scream, drowning in fluid, then a sinister silence. All that remained of his quarry was a shredded sack of flesh smeared on the wall as his laughter echoed off the cavernous depths of Jusendo.

---Phoenix Mountain, China---

"What!? Another murder!?" Zentaro Choiler had been the librarian of Phoenix Mountain for many long decades, but never in his time had he seen such grisly work. He was seated at the soapstone table of death, where bodies of the recently deceased received beautification before being cremated. Lady Merac of the House of Saffron lay mangled in the center, her limbs bent at twisted angles, he paid careful attention to the rupture wound in her stomach; it was almost as if something had ripped her chest open from the inside. "And Lady Merac of all people, such a kind young girl." He covered the remains. "I will tell Lord Saffron myself, out of all living in this mountain I have known him the longestI must go now. Take good care of her." His speckled wings folded out from his tunic, their feathers turning a sallow gray with age. Yojo, the chief surgeon was given the task of making her body presentable to the nobles.

The flight across the wind rifts was rather calm today he thought as the updrafts pushed him forwards towards the foreboding chamber of their lord-god Saffron. Lady Merac, the sixth virgin maiden of the House of Saffron, the family granted the blood of the god himself; too many had died already and Saffron's depression grew. A fluttering of wings and Kima, Saffron's lieutenant, flew overhead. "Lady Kima, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Cut the crap Shaman Choiler, this isn't for my enjoyment. What did Yojo have to say?" Her snow-white tunic flittered in the air, her sword hung dangerously by her hip. "What was the cause of death?"

He alighted upon a cornice and folded his marble wings, Kima following suite. "Yojo told me that Merac was killed by an explosive weapon, one that entered her back and blew out the other side." He crinkled his nose. "A most distasteful way to perish."

"Indeed. Lord Saffron has already heard of his lady's death and wishes to mourn in private. I am charged with keeping all away from his mount." Her neck craned to follow a flock of birds across the orange horizon. "Truth be told, old man, I think something's wrong with our lordhe seems distracted."

"Distracted? In what way?" The Phoenix Tribe would suffer greatly if their leader was in poor mental health.

"He's become preoccupied with defeating that foreigner boy that killed him." She shuddered at the image of Ranma blowing the mountaintop off Jusendo. "He quickened his regeneration for this purpose."

"Could the increased regeneration have made him mentally imbalanced? Kima, this is very important! Can Saffron lead us?"

"What!?! Of course! Lord Saffron can crush gods with his bare hands, lay waste to the oceans making them deserts of salt, our lord is invincible!" She drew her blade. "Anyone who dares doubt our lord is susceptible to treason!"

"Wait. It was merely a question, quite stupid really. But then again I sense that you too are having doubtsaren't you my lady?" He withdrew a gimmer stick from his sleeve, sitting on a cliff-face while Kima stayed aloft. "I know that Saffron keeps the mountains warm and lit with his power, but he can't really be _all_ that powerful, can he? The boy, Ranma Saotome, he is barely of age and yet we see the evidence of Saffron's defeat at his hands," he gestured to the shattered rocks around them, "proof that he isn't as divine as he'd like us to believe. Here, just one last thing my lady, then I'll leave you to your duties. Perhaps Saffron was begotten to the Mountain as just a heat and light source, but over the thousands of years he perceived his role as far grander than it truly is. Just something to think on" The gimmer stick disappeared up his sleeve again.

Kima watched him ascend, her eyes wide as saucers, for someone, anyone, to doubt the word of Saffron? Impossible! His very word was law! "Tell me old man, why do you fill my head with this foolishness? To stir up revolution?"

"Heavens no! I've lived my life under his rule and prospered, I just wanted to insert a bit of independent thought into that mind of yours. I think that we should question everything and everybody, nothing excluded, because through that we become better creatures." Choiler took his leave then, leaving Kima in a stunned silence.

---Title---

Ranma 1/2: Destiny Lost-Prologue

The Re-Animation of the Gods

A Ranma/Lovecraft crossover

By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton

---Phoenix Mountain---

"Good evening Lady Kima, Lord Saffron wishes his privacy for today. No visitors." The guard took a moment to openly leer at her breasts then snapped back to attention. 

"What? I just talked to him a few moments ago! He was accepting me then." Frowning she rolled the pommel of her sword. [I grow worried every day, our lord is just not right] "Alright. Just call me if something comes up." She clashed the silver carapaces enfolding her wings in salutation then departed. The walls in the mount were usually warm to the touch, especially in the main hall, but for the past few months the heat had dissipated. Her hand came away slightly cool. [What is happening to our lord?] Hauntingly, a story told by her mother came echoing back from the confines of her subconscious.

"Someday the Phoenix will be humbled, it's light giving path for darkness. It's heat a breeding for evil. The cornices in the mount will shatter and the blood of the god will spill unto a new life.

"Someday a warrior carrying the weight of legends will overcome our power and the Phoenix will be humbled. The guardian will fall, christened in the blood of love and he too will become like a god to us. When the summer gives way to winter the Phoenix will rise again for the final battle.

"Someday the gods and devils of legend will once more birth this earth in death, devouring those of ill blood. The Guardian and the Phoenix will raise up and walk between the worlds, spinning timeless tales of dream and reality."

Awakened by a sudden chill, Kima leapt out the window and set wing to wind for the forgotten library.

---Japan, Nerima Ward-six months later---

"You Jerk!!! I HATE you Ranma!!!!!!" Window panes snapped under the force of impact and rained out on the courtyard of Furinkan High School. Ranma Saotome pulled himself from the wreckage of an aluminum frame and gazed forlornly up at his fuming fiancée. "Stay out of my goddamn life already! I never want to see you again!" She turned away.

The wedding had been a failure to say the least, the effects of which were still felt to that day. Shampoo and Ukyo had apologized and taken full blame for the incident, their apologies had done nothing to lessen the strained relationship he and Akane now shared however. They had kept away for a maximum of ten days before starting the madness up all over again but this time Akane wouldn't stand for it.

The youngest Tendo had grown considerably short-tempered, she flew off the handle at the slightest glance, yet alone insult. It was time for Ranma to realize that things would never return to the way they had been before, that blitzed wedding served as a valid portent of things to come. Soun and Genma had eased off their backs thankfully, they considered the failure of the marriage as an ill omen. The union would not take place.

Ranma trudged home from school, an ordinary occurrence lately. Akane's destructive tendencies had begun to frighten her friends, something else Ranma couldn't hope to cope with. In his mind, Akane still remained that sad portrait of a sweet girl, and deep down inside he truly felt it was so. There was no hideous transmogrification on her part, it was merely a slow descent into madness. He greeted the old woman at the corner then shuffled into the homestead, closing the gates behind him.

"Is that you Ranma?" Kasumi's worried voice carried from the kitchen. Since the wedding she had begun to have doubt as to Akane's mental health a well, a sentiment shared by most people that knew her. Something was wrong. "Home so early again?"

"Yeah. Do you have anything to eat Kasumi-chan?" A stupid question, Kasumi always had something to eat. She motioned him in then set a plate of cookies and a porcelain cup filled with tea on the table. Indescribable, the gritty texture of the morsels of dough ground out to a thin sweet consistency as he chewed, almost as sweet as the dimples on her face when she smiled. [Whoa! Where did that come from?]

"How was school today?" She sat with her elbows on the table, her arms crossed. The frills on her apron just barely brushed the glossy surface of the table, her ample bosom spilling over her slim wrists. "Did you and Akane have a fight again?"

"You can say that again." Her face dropped briefly. "I think something's seriously wrong, she's just not acting normal." He dropped his gaze. "I think she should get some real help. It's not that I don't like her, I mean I love her an'all but" The words he said sounded lacking,, "she'd just not the same girl now."

From the corner, Soun and Genma were listening, their faces serious, their thoughts grave. What Ranma was saying rang true, but Soun just couldn't seem to do it. He wouldn't do that to one of his daughters. Genma caught a watery glint off his son's eyes, saw Kasumi reach out and comfort him, felt the waves of negative ki waft off his boy. At that moment, the father's thoughts were synchronized. This did not bode well.

---Phoenix Mountain---

"It's gone now. There's nothing." Kima ran a smooth hand across the stone wall of her quarters. The walls had cooled, so much so that the Phoenix needed fires and blankets to keep the warmth in. Choiler sat on an aged stool in the corner of her room, an embroidered red cloak draped around his body.

"Kima, have you considered what I told you?" He leaned against his gnarled cane, the fragrant wood giving off a scent of jasmine near the fire. "The prophecy will ring true, it has been said since time immemorial and will be said until it is so. You know what I say do you not?"

"II understand. Saffron has refused any guards, he keeps himself looked in his main audience chamber. No one's seen him." She looked off the window, at the blue sky and bright sun whose warmth would never reach the mount. Saffron grieved piteously for his family, but slowly all twelve virgins of the House of Saffron were killed. No weapon was found, no trace of the victim's missing body parts. It sent chills up her spine thinking of the cold stare in all those faces.

"It will be coming, and you must be ready. Divus will not heed your commands, you will truly be on your own. Saffron must be stopped." Even now the thought of disobeying Saffron was alien to her, all her life she was taught to respect the wishes of the God and follow his orders unconditionally. Life had changed now. Lord Divus, the second lieutenant was an arrogant, spiteful creature. Remorseless, he hunted the warriors of the Musk and Amazons for sport, bringing their eviscerated carcasses as trophies of his prowess.

"I know. I am prepared."

"Are you really? Fighting against the teachings of life cannot be so easy. But I trust you. Now soon you will have to retrieve the Guardian from his land." Choiler rose with the creaking of aged bones. "Only he can save us now."

"How can you be so sure that he is the Guardian?" She helped him to the door, his talons scraping against the stone floor. Both pairs of eyes darted to the school identification card propped on her mantel. It was of a young man, one of Kima's age, with black hair and a short pigtail. He was wearing a red silk Chinese shirt instead of the typical school uniform. The card read: Saotome, Ranma. Class 22-E. Student # 001020.'

"He humbled the Phoenix.' There can be no doubt."

---Japan, Nerima Ward-two months later---

Ranma sprinted down the street with a cheerful smile, his spirits high for the first time in a very long while. The old widow on the corner waved to him as he passed on his way to the Tendo Dojo. Soun was outside pruning his bonsai as Genma sat lazily on the porch in panda-form with a paper fan. The elder Tendo waved as he came in, accidentally clipping a precious branch. Curses followed thereafter.

Akane had been quiet that day, a rare occurrence lately, which meant that she was making progress. He reminded himself to thank Nabiki for the money for a psychologist. Kasumi was humming to herself at the sink, cutting vegetables for dinner, a perfect target.

With the swiftness of the wind, and the grace of a dancer, Ranma rushed behind her and swept her off the floor. One hand supported her knees as the other turned her body towards him, with a cry she lurched in his arms before the shock wore off. As Ranma's face came into view she calmed quickly and giggled.

"Don't do that Ranma! You scared me!" She placed the knife in the sink before facing him.

"Far be it from me to place any undo stress upon the fair maiden of the kitchen!" He posed dramatically then came in close, wedging her between his body and the kitchen sink. "I hope a didn't," he reached around and gave a light squeeze to her shapely ass, "_startle_ you Kasumi." He smiled, showing bright teeth as he moved in for a kiss.

One which was interrupted by Nabiki.

"*Cough! Cough!* Ranma? Kasumi? Daddy wants you in the livingroom." She smirked as Kasumi looked away with a bright blush, while Ranma looked like half the blood in his body rushed to his cheeks.

Ranma walked out briskly, Kasumi however, was stopped by her sister. "Having fun? Is he a good kisser?" She playfully teased.

She nodded. "The best!" She literally glowed at Nabiki, who facefaulted at her oblivious sister's response.

"Well then, I'll have to try him out." Kasumi's eyes narrowed threateningly.

---

Soun and Genma along with Nodoka and Akane were seated at the kotatsu, Nabiki, Kasumi and Ranma were seated opposite. The parents wore grim expressions.

"Son, when you first came here I was worried about the honor of the Tendo school, not about my own daughter's feelings. For awhile I resented you and your father and the tragedies that followed you. After you saved us from the Dojo Destroyer however, my attitude changed. A far cry from a nuisance, you have upheld the honor of the school beautifully and have resurrected the Saotome name." Soun sat sternly, he gave no hint of weakness. "I truly thought that someday a love would grow between you and one of my daughters, I was a bit pre-emptive in my ideas, and for that I apologize.

"I have forced you into numerous situations and denounced you many times, for that I apologize as well. We are here now to ask you whether you wish to carry out the agreement between our schools." He gestured to Genma.

"Ranma m'boy, you have far surpassed my own abilities in the Art, your defeat of Saffron in China was the proof. I say that you have more morals and moral courage than I ever had, I regret dragging you away for that trip for so long. I too must apologize." He nodded at his wife.

"My son, I have not been there for a good part of your life and I know I can never reclaim that lost time, but I wish for you to be happy. For all your shortcomings you are truly a man among men, a man worthy of carrying the Saotome name and our sword." She placed said weapon on the table. "If you wish to dissolve the agreement between the two schools I will make no qualm. I only wish for your happiness and your forgiveness." She bowed, tears in her eyes. "I love you Ranma my son."

The room lay silent, the scene ended, the act finished now the actors awaited the final curtain. Ranma sat with tears in his eyes, tears of joy for a destiny he never wished and a life he was thrown into, for the responsibilities left undone and the praise of those he respected. Akane was speechless, her face an unreadable mask. Nabiki sat as if she were waiting for this a long time in coming, she too cried. Finally, Kasumi gripped his hand and gave a reassuring smile hidden behind tears of joy. Soft skin brushed his heated own, their cool texture washing over him in a rush, and in that briefest of moments he understood that his life had built up to this moment, a moment of choice. He knew what had to be done.

He stood up, helping Kasumi as he did so. "Mr. Tendo, Pops, Mom, I can't thank you enough, your words have meant the world to me. I have been a victim of honor all my life and from it I have learned valuable lessons. I do not wish the agreement broken, although I thank you for risking family honor, I will marry Kasumi after I graduate. Through it all she has stood for the reason in my life and provided a safe motherly figure to confide in. I loved Akane for many months and probably still will for many years to come but it is Kasumi I wish to be with until I grown old and die. I hope you will understand my decision, Akane, Nabiki, Mother, Mr. Tendo." He gave her hand a light squeeze, just a silent reassurance of their bond.

---Phoenix Mountain---

A cry, a scream, and a fire. These three minor events threw the populace of Phoenix Mountain into an uproar as Saffron finally left his chamber. Kima was walking with Choiler in the underground library when they both were brought to their knees by a deafening scream that seemed a conglomerate of all things in the mount. For one excruciating moment all movement ceased as the Phoenix god exploded from his chambers, wiping the entire mountain off the face of the planet. As the ungodly sound died, the people panicked as debris rained down from the heavens. And through it all came Saffron's insane laughter.

"MY LOYAL SUBJECTS!!!!! I AM NOW MORE THAN I WAS BEFORE AND TO THOSE THAT SERVE ME WITHOUT QUESTION I SHALL GRANT TO THEE IMMORTALITY!" His blazing specter fell across the valley of Jusenkyo, a dangerous sun that threatened to burn the region off the earth. Saffron had gone mad. He was laughing now as he destroyed three mountains of the Musk and two villages of the Amazons. "LET MY PEOPLE FEAR NO MORE!!!! I AM NOW INVINCIBLE!!!! LET RANMA SAOTOME FEAR MY WRATH!!!"

"Oh by the gods!" Choiler fell back to the floor. His eyes wide, his mouth agape. In all his wildest imaginings he never believed Saffron would have fallen so far from the sweet breath of sanity. "He's been doing it! We never suspected! It's always been him!"

"Lord Choiler, father, what can we do?!?" Kima helped the old man up, squinted as the rays of Saffron's aura singed her feathers. She saw it as well, the proof of his insanity, she cried as her loyalty for Saffron crumbled in an instant. Fire was now spreading through the civilian quarters, set ablaze by Lord Divus and the other sadistic bastards still loyal to the Phoenix god.

"Run girl! Get to Japan! Only the Guardian can save us." He readjusted his glasses. "Saffron will have to secure his power base here and take care of Musk and Amazon threats, that gives you about thirty days. Go! He'll kill you first!"

Kima looked at her father with tear stained eyes, she looked back at the multi-winged monstrosity Saffron now was and took to the sky. Choiler gave her a reassuring smile then turned away. By the time Divus realized she was gone, the tears had dried, leaving red stains on her white plumage. She cried blood. At the beach facing Taiwan she looked back and saw the hideous bloated form of a red sun cresting over the mountains.

She didn't look back again.

---"?"---

It seems like our boy has finally achieved what he wanted.

Yes. Saffron's power will draw out the guardian, when he is identified Nyralathotep will strike. It has been planned.

Good. The gods of Eld cannot be allowed to interfere again. We suffered grievously last time.

Are we agreed? The guardian must die.

Yes. The Haunter in the Darkness has awakened and will soon awaken the Wind Walker. The unspeakable one will soon arise.

The stars will come right again, after all they ruled this planet, they would have made sure that they could be reawakened.

It will begin with the Phoenix.

---Japan, Nerima Ward---

It began with a blast of heat, one that blew the shingles off the roof of the dojo. The heat felt like a wind of sulfuric acid that stung the flesh and sought the bones, to make them gleaming white, to make them dead. Somewhere halfway around the hemisphere a being called out to evils unimaginable in the times of man. Something that gazed out with foreign eyes through the dense forests, across the deep oceans, through the majestic mountains and right at Ranma. Targeting, analyzing, the thing screamed with a rage unbelievable to the ears of man, a cloak of blackest secrecy enveloping him in the powder white snow.

Akane had hid under the table as the onslaught began, the wood burning as wave after silent wave of heat blasted the ancestral home of the Tendos. Ranma shielded Kasumi and ducked the walls with Nabiki, a quick feel confirmed that the wind was blowing from an easterly direction. The winds whipped the pedestrians off the sidewalk and blew them against the surrounding walls, leaving imprinted ashes melted into the concrete. Some thought another atomic bomb, others knew the truth. Ranma knew what it was.

A ki storm.

The blasts faded after a moment, the shock of the attack settling into the minds of those present, leaving only the whispers of heat and the wisps of smoke to tell the tale. The floor still smoldered beneath their feet as the Tendo compound struggled to its feet.

---To be continued---

I know I didn't put much Lovecraft in yet, but I wanted to explain the situation first. Saffron's gone insane, Ranma's in love with Kasumi, Akane is mental and Kima is in love??? A bit weird huh? Next chapter is: 

Ranma 1/2: Cyclopean Structure Vol. 1-Destiny Lost

Chapter One: The Hound

Questions? Comments?

Kaiton@banet.net

By the way, if anyone out there reading this happens to like my stories (big if') and maintains a fanfiction web site, I'm in dire need. I own a MAC, so I can't post on the RAAC, but I do have several interesting Ranma 1/2 stories. Many of these offer different beginnings or alternate fiancées, for instance Kima, Hinako, Nabiki, or Kasumi. If anyone is interested I'd really appreciate it!


	2. The Hound

Note: I don't own the characters, I just play around with them.

Ranma 1/2: Cyclopean Structure Vol. 1-Destiny Lost

---

"Madness rides the star-windclaws and teeth sharpened on centuries of corpsesdripping death astride a Bacchanale of bats from the night-black ruins of buried temples of BelialNow, as the baying of that dead, fleshless monstrosity grows louder and louder, and the stealthy whirring and flappings of those accursed web-wings circles closer and closer, I shall seek with my revolver the oblivion which is my only refuge from the unnamed and unnamable."

(H.P. Lovecraft, 1922. The Hound)

---Japan, Nerima Ward---

"Is everyone alright?" Soun Tendo's voice resounded in the silence following the cataclysmic ki storm that enveloped the house. Wisps of smoke still rose from the surface of the table, mingling with the steamy atmosphere. Ranma helped Kasumi up, freeing Nabiki from a fallen dresser. The house was in a shambles, furniture strewn across the floor in a haphazard fashion; the television slumped on its side spewing forth wires and shards of broken glass. The heat had risen suddenly, the winds had ceased, and Ranma drew out his senses like a blade and bore out the sordid details concerning the horrendous storm that lashed at them.

It was ki. The fire and heat had been a form of ki he had seen in no creature save one, the Phoenix King of the mount, Saffron. Shuddering from the revelations of memory, he sat down with Kasumi on the couch, his brow caked with sweat. He feared the worst, that through this mad exhibition of Saffron's power he meant to draw him out, destroy him utterly, and leave the others behind in agony. He was right.

"What is it my son? What's the matter?" Nodoka bore the situation bravely with a stiff upper lip, betraying no signs of the inner turmoil that even now gnawed at her like some great beast. She noticed the worried look in his eye and assumed the worstthat Ranma would be powerless against this new menace.

"It'sSaffron. He's come back, that was himjust now. He lashed out with a ki storm; it must've been huge! He's still in China, he wants a rematch." Ranma stood on his feet then, keeping a cautionary hand upon Kasumi's shoulder. He ran out then, out onto the porch to gaze east at the reddening sky filled with murderous intent. Just as the heat dissipated, someone who had brought great pain and suffering descended from the sky.

Kima had flown for thirty straight hours, her wings cramping from the strain. Even as the firewalls blowing from her home singed her feathers, she knew she had to go on, if not for herself than for the next of the Tribe. Japan lay just over the next expanse of wavering gray waves, Okinawa long since passed. The tears had stopped now, and the horror at Saffron's transformation gave way to renewed purpose, to find the Guardian. Ranma Saotome. He was an enigma to her, a strong able-bodied man that seemed to possess an irresistible tenacity, a drive to be great, and the power to humble a god. After the climactic events at Jusendo, he became somewhat of a teen heartthrob for those few young women at the mount; tales of his heroism were emblazoned upon historical tablets recalling past glories.

She flew on with hope, then the ki storm overtook her. A tangible sort of liquid fire burned at her flesh, napalming her feathers to non-existence. She screamed in impotent rage at the injustice of being burned so close to her goal, then was carried by the resulting shock wave to the final destination of her journey. Burnt, tired, and disillusioned, Kima fell to earth with an ear-piercing scream.

---Title---

Ranma 1/2: Destiny Lost

Chapter One-The Hound

By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton

---

A scream tore through the ears of all present; it's pitch and timber compromising its level of pain and anguish. Kima spiraled down from the crimson heavens, her wings burned and smoking from the latest of Saffron's firewalls, her eyes were closed and her breathing shallow as she headed straight for oblivion. The winds had picked up now, a chilling breeze that cooled the hot, humid air around then and gently put out the fire on Kima's wings, in so doing Ranma could clearly decipher the shape and identity of their visitor. Leaping from the porch, he caught her in mid-fall, her body burning with an unnatural heat.

As he completed his mid-air rescue, Kasumi and Akane held their breath, concern for the one they loved evident in the tearful visage of their face. In truth, Akane still loved Ranma, hatred for herself building up until there could be no release for its power. It festered and boiled; concentrated into a force of such evil that gods themselves would weep. Both sisters watched as the one they both loved dived into the koi pond, oil black smoke wafting off it's glassy surface. Ranma himself, stunned beyond belief, could not believe who had fallen from the darkening sky. Though burned and bloody, charred skin flaking off her arms, her face remained intact, unburned flesh giving way to her crystal blue eyes.

---An atoll, two miles off the West Coast of Japan---

The figure sat resting after his long journey. Tiring, though satisfying work when ordered by his liege. Lord Divus of the Phoenix was on a mission to the Nerima ward of Japan, to capture the Guardian. Graying in his old age, the first lieutenant of Saffron had never once in his two hundred years as an honor guard to his majesty disobeyed a direct order. As Saffron unleashed his ki storm, a telepathic message entered Divus' mind, alerting him to the dangers. Settling down on the atoll and covering himself with the heat-resistant cloth Saffron had generously provided was simple; surviving the ordeal was not. The heat singed his feathers and partially asphyxiated him as the flames raced across the heavens as divine retribution to the mortals that dared stand against it.

Inside the Lord Divus' mind were hidden the impulses of a raging psychopath; rape, murder, torture, all forms of debauchery were equal and in practice in his mind. When hunting the Amazon tribes of the area he would rape and mutilate then until tiring of the exercise, casting away the skins for adornment on his trophy wall. Musk warriors were simply gutted and their flesh devoured. Saffron had long since discovered his lieutenant's grisly practices and endorsed them wholeheartedly, knowing that one-day he may use the information as advantage against Divus' betrayal.

Now, as the time of The Closing drew near, Saffron's burst of energy had uncovered large bands of men of moreundesirable stock from the foetid holes of depravity from which they spawned. Such groups were tribes that were mentally or physically deformed, people who were cast out of tribal society for inbreeding or mating with creatures cursed by Jusenkyo. No Musk warrior was ever cast out for such a practice, consequently Musk were only cast out for the former. Superstitious people one and all, they prayed to heathen gods of antiquity, evil malevolent spirits that promised mastership of the Earth, messengers of the Great Old Ones.

[That bitch Kima! I'll be sure to gut her slowly when we get back. Saffron's orders were clear, bring back the female Tendos and eliminate all that get in my way. That Saotome boy will pay, regardless if he is the Guardian.] In the darkness cast by the clouds, an inhuman chortling could be heard for miles.

---Tendo Dojo---

Cologne had arrived swiftly, Shampoo and Mousse following behind with medical supplies. She pogoed in on her gnarled wooden staff, the ancient elder of the Joketsuzoku had come at the beck-and-call of her most promising pupil for the aid of her tribe's mortal enemy. Kima was lain on the porch, none wanting to touch her burned flesh for fear that in so doing might cause irreparable damage to her fragile health. The heat had risen again, Saffron's message and reminder of doom, he would not accept Ranma's refusal, rather his death.

Blending herbs and oils in a bowl provided by Kasumi, Cologne crushed fine powders into the dish, erupting in a cloud of hazy smoke. Ranma and Akane had already knelt at the fallen's side, anxious to hear her excuse for once again disrupting their lives. With knowing eyes filled with esoteric knowledge and shaman practice, Cologne smeared the resultant salve over the phoenix woman's body, sections of burnt flesh peeling away with her hand.

"This salve I have made will expedite her recovery, but it still will not come in time. Saffron has no doubt sent others after this one, we must be prepared." She closed the sliding panels, separating the reality of Kima's wounds with the unreality of their situation; Saffron had caused a shock wave which would change the weather patterns of the world itself! To that end Ranma had to go back. Back to China. "I will send a messenger to my tribe, they will provide us with transportation. You must return to take Saffron's challenge, without appeasement his rage could boil until the entire world could be swallowed in his hate."

Kasumi had walked in, taking her place at her fiancée's side. "I found this clipping of parchment in Kima's satchel. It was the only thing to survive the fire." She withdrew an oblong tube tied with an official ribbon of Phoenix Mountain. "It is written in Chinese, I can't translate it."

"Give it to me child, someone must have wanted us to know why she came. Such parchment would crumble to dust in such heat, under normal circumstances." She cracked the wax ribbon with a twisted nail, reading eagerly the text scrawled upon the paper. Ranma was leaning with his back against a wall, Kasumi draped over his lap. A comforting aura pervaded her very being as such close contact with him was wont to do. Wrenching a fistful of silken shirt, Kasumi pulled herself even closer, drawing herself even further into his warming embrace.

Cologne drew in a straggling breath, air sucking in too forcefully eliciting a dry cough. Her owl-eyes were wide in fear, both fear and comprehension. For written upon that scrap of paper, were the first three verses of The Prophecy of Guardians,' a secret Phoenix scroll only seen by a select few. Mounting her cane, she hollered for Mousse and Shampoo to make haste to the Nekohanten. Finally she turned, rather eruditely, to the languishing pair.

"Ranma, I have underestimated you. You have proven to be the one we've all been searching for and I simply didn't see it. What is written upon that scroll concerns you, it was written thousands of years before you were born yet it speaks the truth of your soul, your destiny! For that we must go to China! You must face Saffron and prevail! Not only does Japan rest in the balance, but also the fate of multitudes of ageless spheres just beyond our reach." She exited the Tendo walls, looking back one final time at Ranma and Kasumi, happy and loving for the last time. "But not beyond yours I think." She left leaving Ranma to ponder her words.

---"?"---

It is time. Saffron must make the sacrifice soon or else all will be lost! He has wasted enough time as it is!

Quiet, the guardian must be brought. Only through him will they awaken. The dark one shall rise from centuried kelp from myriad seas of old, he will strike down those that have made their world and institute his law.

That is not dead which can eternal lie

And with strange eons even death may die

The dreamer dying faces death with scorn

And through his seed will rise again reborn

In his lair, _He_ awaits dreaming

It will come time soon when the hounds will descend upon this sphere and devour the world if they are not awakened. Saffron's opponent is the key, he is the centre of our destiny.

He must be aided then, none could resist our pawn so easily.

True, the Gods of Eld must have some stake in his plans.

We shall have to see

---Nerima, outside the Tendo Compound. Midday---

Divus was sickened by the wonton degradation these humans of the outside world displayed, they lived only for themselves, they had no right to live in the world of Saffron. The females were submissive, no aggressiveness to them, he found the whole culturedistasteful. Vendors hawked their wares everywhere, charging exorbitant charges for simple enmities of life.

"Can I interest you in some fresh fruit or vegetables? I grow them myself, twenty yen apiece." A fat slob pushed his way through the throng of people gawking at the winged man standing in almost roman armour at the centre of all the chaos in Nerima. "Where'd ya git the ratty wings pal? A yard sale?" He grinned showing plaque encrusted teeth. He reached out with dirty fingernails and grabbed a fistful of feathers.

"You will remove your hands from my wings or you will lose them. I haven't come here on a hunt but I can easily," he grinned hideously at the man, "change my plans." He backhanded the slug from his wing, the greasy unfortunate hitting the Yamada's stone wall headfirst, his gray-matter splattered across the street. "Pathetic fools." The crowd ran in all directions from the great trapper of Phoenix mountain, all except two.

Takewaki Kuno and his mentally-imbalanced sister Kodachi had been out to the market, as her new pollen extracts had arrived at the local curio shop. After eating at their usual French restaurant in the square the crowd of people in front of the Tendo gates drew their attention. Suddenly a man was thrown backwards, his head exploding in a wave of gore flushing from his ruptured skull. Even the scion to the noble House of Kuno couldn't allow the slaughter of innocent surfs near his estate.

"You there! I beseech you to throw down your weapon and give yourself up, ye cannot hope to prevail over the majestic glory of The Blue Thunder!" He drew his bokken from a navy sleeve, his sister ripping away the hand-embroidered kimono in favor of her sea-green leotard. Wood and cloth, brother and sister, lashed out at the attacker. "Have at thee foul daemon!"

Divus assessed the power of his assailants, finding them pathetically wanting in skill and technique. Gold carapaces enclosing his wings slid off at the twitch of a muscle becoming twin bucklers and razor edged circular axes, he ripped through their flesh like ricepaper, entrails falling to the pavement in a wet, slushy, heap. Both their torsos went sailing into the air, finally coming to a rest in the Tendo courtyard. Faces frozen in horror. Within the bottomless depths of those eyes lay a natural insanity, that and a horror that even throughout the countless millennia past and future would forever remain unnamed and unnamable.

With the annoyances gone and the Tendos alerted to his presence by the screams coming from behind the stone wall, Divus took flight. The carcasses of his previous victims were splashed about the yard, intestines strewn about the plum trees dotting the perimeter of the house, staining the flowers crimson. The sanguine rippling surface of the defiled koi pond reflected the gossamer hue of Divus wings as he stepped foot in the Tendo yard.

"Where are the Tendo females!!!???" He bellowed into the house, tearing the paper doors with a gleaming rapier. The inside of the house was in shambles, a grim reminder of Saffron's powerful attack across the ocean, burning ki obliterating the Chinese Military forces in the surrounding area of the Bayankala Range. A shadow danced in the corner of his eye, his swift vacuum blade strike puncturing cleanly the shoulder of Genma, the surrounding tissue exploding in a geyser of blood and bone. The fat martial artist fell at the feet of the conquering lord, bleeding stunted by his white kerchief, Divus sword at the back of his exposed bald skull.

"Tell me where they are slug, and I may allow you to die a painless death." His face contorted into a sadistic grin, his sword lightly cleaving the flesh on Genma's head. "I know they are here." Watching the reaction on his victim's face he saw a brief eye movement to the kitchen. Turning swiftly, bashing Genma's head with a quick kick, he flew to the kitchen. "So this is where you hide!" Kasumi screamed as the warrior grabbed her throat, lifting her in the air as she flailed madly for breath.

"Let go of her you creep!" Ranma swung into the kitchen, executing a 44 strike combo into Divus' chest. The hunter flew back to impact the far wall with a muffled thump. Grasping Akane and Nabiki's hands, Kasumi gathered her sisters and ran for the tearoom where Genma's bleeding body lay mercifully unconscious. "Get out of the house! All of you!" Nodoka helped Soun with her husband, dragging him out into the cobblestone entrance, only to be met with the cold steel of swords and the fluttery beating of wings.

"By order of the lord of Phoenix Mountain, Saffron, all of you must surrender the women to us!!!" A squad of tribesmen were floating before them, crossbows and swords trained at the group. Heads turning swiftly at the sound of battle, Nodoka watched as her son threw the Phoenix out into the courtyard, ki raging like wildfire around his body. "Take the woman and help lord Divus." They wrenched Akane Nabiki and Kasumi off the ground, utilizing shiatsu sleep points to calm them, and flew off. "Know this! Mighty Saffron will hold your daughters alive for seventy-two hours, after that they will die, one after the other!" With that the squad flew up and into the clouds.

"KASUMI!!!!" Ranma leapt into the air, firing off twenty Moku Takabashi before falling back to earth, broken and disheartened. 

"" Genma motioned feebly towards his son with his intact arm, the other held to the remainder of his frame by a hideous strip of sinew and muscle. Blood gurgled up from his hemorrhaged lungs and stomach, warm blood coursing across the cobblestones. "the Saotome forbidden techniquesunseal themexceed your fatherfinish my work"

"Popsdon't worry you're gonna be alright." Fresh tears began to creep along the boy's eyes, rivulets of a scarring event in the youth's life. His father would die, in some jarring way he knew that but detached himself from reality, hoping to give some small bit of comfort to the parent that had given him the most grief. "Dr. Tofu'll get you patched up, we'll unseal them together."

"No timeI'm dead." He chuckled softly, blood streaming from his nose, eagerly devoured by the cotton gi desperately clinging to his frame. "At the houseunder the plum treetried to do good" The color had left his face, draining out onto the courtyard in one torrential gush. And so Genma Saotome's body joined the Kunos' rotting carcasses in the Tendo courtyard.

Nodoka and Soun had dropped Genma's rapidly cooling corpse on the walk, his mother's touch seemingly awakening the broken youth from his stupor. Helping her son to his feet, Nodoka wept, not for her less than honorable husband, not for the insane and meddlesome Kunos but for the possibility that Ranma would lose another love. Tears streamed down his cheeks unbidden, his head facing west, to the sky.

---Phoenix Mountain, later that day---

Saffron had ordered the auditorium cleared so that he may spread his wings and rule from a majestic place suiting his new power. His face had grown more feral, canines jutting from his lower lip, and far more angular. His body had retained the stature and poise of his position but his golden crown had been replaced by a sheer strip of metal heated until malleable then affixed to his skull. Where once two wings beat with furious intensity, now beat 26, 12 pairs taken from those of his blood, their differing plumage offering a host of grisly acts of violence against his own kin.

The Musk had retreated after their mountain stronghold was destroyed, the citadel now they're only base of operations, the Amazons, however, proved to be far more complicated. Since they were spread along the valley several had escaped into the mountains, seeking outside help. Saffron himself thought the idea amusing, no one could dare face him now, resplendent in victory, and after the foolish mortal Saotome was ground into dust by his boots none would bar his path to glory. The immense double doors opened and Divus limply approached.

"My great lord Saffron! Most exalted of the divine and bearer of the light and heat of this mountain, I give to thee your requested guests!'" His ribs had been taped earlier, his eye before he entered, as such his eye patch was growing increasingly bloodier and bloodier with each movement of his head. "The Saotome is a mighty foe, but one whom you can easily best! As I have done this almighty deed I bring you the boons of my expedition!" Three armed guards shoved a respective Tendo through the door. "The Tendo sisters that you described, with them the Saotome will come and meet his doom!"

"Be silent Divus, lest I grind your bones to dust." Kasumi shuddered at the voice that seemed to be rippling on the surface of the air, rippling her torn clothes. It was just as Ranma had described, when in the presence of Saffron for the first time one truly felt powerless, for here sat a god! Nabiki had long since wet herself from fear as they were flown back to the mountain, the surrounding Sharptooth Cliffs nicking her feet, and stood embarrassed in her soiled rags. Akane seemed to be holding up well considering he was the one that almost killed her. "You! The one with black hair! You were the one he first came after, but I know that it is you," he pointed at Kasumi, "that holds his heart. You will be the bait that will entice him to his death." He chortled, his insane laughter bouncing off the cavernous walls. It was through this sound that Akane's mind snapped. With a feral cry she spat at her oldest sister.

"Kasumi! You fucking bitch! You stole him from me!" Akane elbowed the guard in the gut, making a beeline for Kasumi. "You worthless whore, he loved me until you convinced him I was crazy, using your body to lure him away from me!" She lashed out against her bound sister, legs felling the elder woman and pinning her to the stones. Snapping her bound hands, the rope falling to the floor in tatters, she viciously began beating Kasumi into the ground. "Harlot! Bitch! He came here to save me, not you!" Nabiki began to weep, falling to her knees.

"Very interesting! It seems the black-haired bitch he came to save last time wants to kill her sister! Very good!" [I have plans for this!] He shot his hand out at the younger Tendo, a pinprick of flame hitting Akane's shiatsu sleep spot leaving her to crumple to the floor. "Take them to the cells, make sure the younger and eldest are separated, I wouldn't want Saotome to miss the show! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!"

---"?"---

It seems the boy has done it. The wind walker will soon return to Earth, taking his soul with it.

It seems he is fated to die once more.

No matter to us, his death will suit a far greater purpose than light and heat. He will be the key to unlocking the Guardian's destiny.

True, we already had to change the destiny of several others as well to suit the Guardian's quest. He won't even know what he has done before it will be too late.

He will free us or all the world will suffer!

But to him our rule would be the hell, the Hounds would almost be a mercy in his eyes.

We have invested far too much of our own time and effort into this realm, it will not be wasted because of one insignificant mortal.

Now that he possesses what he deems to be worthy fighting techniques he will be difficult to defeat. At least for the boy. He is far from insignificant.

Is that not how we planned it?

---To be continued---


	3. The Shunned House

Note: I don't own the characters, I just play around with them.

Ranma 1/2: Cyclopean Structure Vol. 1-Destiny Lost

---

"The rest is shadowy and monstrous. There was no one in the soaking street, and in all the world there was no one I dared tellThen grey dawn unfolded wetly from the east, silhouetting the archaic hill and it's venerable steeples, and beckoning me to the place where my terrible work was still unfinished. And in the end I went, wet, hatless, and dazed in the morning light, and entered that awful door in Benefit Street which I had left ajar, and which still swung cryptically in full sight of the early householders to whom I dared not speak."

(H.P. Lovecraft, 1924. The Shunned House.)

---Japan, Minato ward---

Ranma Saotome seldom cried. After years on the road with his strict, stupid father crooning on and on that crying was for women, it seemed an ingrained reflex to fight back the tears and put forth a strong shell to the merciless world. It was not working now, his mother wept beside him, his father's bloodless corpse sprawled out not two feet away. Kasumi was gone, taken by the lower troops of Phoenix Mountain for ransom, taken back to Saffron along with Nabiki and Akane. The charred bark of the plum trees serving to remind him of the burning ki storm Saffron sent from all the way in China. Faint wisps of smoke, untethered from chains of wood, dissipated in the afternoon sun.

[Plum Tree? Pops said something about forbidden techniques' hidden under the plum tree at our old house!] "Mom! We've gotta get back to Juuban!" He glanced at his father's remains, "I'm gonna save Kasumi if it's the last thing I do." Tracing the line his tears had dug in the dirt and dust on his face, he wiped his eyes, smudging the grime across his cheeks, twin swaths of war paint. "I can't lose her now just because of one mistake I made, she shouldn't have to suffer."

"And what mistake was that son?" Nodoka came up behind him, carefully skirting over the sight of her husband's body steeping in it's own blood.

"Letting Saffron live." A faint breeze blew through, nudging the bangs falling over his face, nipping gently at his clothes, and awakening the lovely Kima from her torturous sleep. 

Kima sat up from her sleep, carefully wrapped bandages, loosened a little due to the movement of her flesh underneath, fell to her lap stained with blood. Her skin burned still from the attack, the salve reducing the scalding on her wings and arms. Rising from the futon and exiting the spare room, Kima noticed that most of the feathers adorning her uncovered flesh were burned away except her face which had been covered defensively when the attacking fire wave had hit her. Her boots and gloves had been taken, as had her sword and wing armour. Staring at her slightly scaled hands, the nails manicured short as not to harm anything fragile, she realized what a sea of difference lay between her and the Guardian. Not that it would stop her chosen path, however.

Scaly, clawed feet tapped down the stairs searching for any sign of life in the house, there was none. The kitchen was decimated, the stove and sink sliced neatly into pieces, a hole blown right through the far wall and into the yard beyond. A mass of speckled feathers, matted with blood, sat crumpled on the floor; she knew whose they were immediately. Someone had followed her, meaning Saffron had known about her quest from the start which might explain the wave of fire that had engulfed her. It was all some kind of sick plot to kill all that oppose him along with the guardian. Kima had no doubt that the Phoenix sent had come up against major obstacles from Ranmathe copious pools of blood and feathers spoke volumes.

Hearing muted voices from the front, Kima collected her brown leather boots and gloves, affixed her scimitar to her belt and opened the door. Ranma was speaking to an older woman she could only assume was his mother, auburn hair pinned up in a bun. He was the first to notice her arrival.

"You're awake? Are you hurt badly?" He walked forward, reaching out to grasp her blackened shoulders. "I'll get Cologne to rewrap your bandages." Nodoka moved to her son while Soun went inside to call for an ambulance.

"No need son-in-law. I'm already here." Cologne dropped down from the roof, her staff drawing a hollow tap from the stones. "I saw the Phoenix fly off with Kasumi, your Moku Takabashi actually managed to hit one, he's at the restaurant. I've brought more healing items for Kima's burns and a few wrappings for your wounds." She withdrew a satchel of herbs and ointments, stitched with the Chinese for Cologne.' "It would be advised to retire into the house son-in-law, the Phoenix may have spies lurking about."

"She is right son, it would be best to stay out of wide open public places for now, these Phoenix' may well return, and in larger numbers." Nodoka motioned towards the house, "Come now, Kima needs her rest."

Cologne and Kima walked back into the house as the trio of elders, two physically the part, the last mentally, awaited the ambulance. Soun stood in shock, stoic face marred by the occasional tear that slipped past his check, two of those most dear to him had died. No matter how hard he tried he could not tell which was the worse death, both victims had a large place in his heart, and so he stood divided as Dr. Tofu arrived with the ambulance.

Dr. Tofu immediately recognized the tell-tale signs of shock radiating from Soun and quickly took steps to prevent yet another loss, wrapping him in blankets and putting him to bed, he would sleep for another three days. His presence also evaded some of the more, evasive, questions the paramedics asked about the death. With covered face and silent lights, the ambulance sped past the victim's son and wife, carrying with it their hopes and dreams. Tofu had dealt with the police, who knew what it was to have Tofu there, with all the craziness happening all around them none of Tofu's explanations rubbed them the wrong way. With a curt nod and a wave goodbye, Tofu gave his regards to the late Genma Saotome, leaving the scene, tears marring his own young face.

Ranma trudged back to the house, soft slipper-shoes kicking dust and dried blood from the stones, finding Kima already patched up with her golden wing carapaces and sword adorning her frame once more. Nodoka went upstairs to see to the Tendo patriarch, his sobs reverberating off the soft walls of the house. Left alone with Cologne and Kima, Ranma had only just sat down when Cologne opened the forum.

"I've received several urgent messages from my tribe, son-in-law, apparently Saffron has increased his power in some way. He is greater than before." Her wise, old eyes slitted like some venomous viper stabbed him to the quick. "You must honor your father's wishes, I do not what any more blood spilled in the name of that heathen god."

"He has stolen the power from his children, that is why I fled." Kima's arms were wrapped in gauze with a layer of herbal ointment that broke down the dead tissue and induced rapid new growth. "Mysterious deaths had been occurring at the Mount, 12 virgin maidens of the house of Saffron were found murdered in the caverns beneath Jusendo. Saffron refused to acknowledge their deaths and secluded himself in the throne room, none of us had any idea what he'd been doing" Her arms made slight squeaking noises as her bandages stretched with her movement. Wrapped head to toe she resembled more a mummy of ancient Egypt than a warrior Phoenix out of legend.

"What had he been doing child? What did he do to increase his power so dramatically?" This interested her, whatever he had done would have been drastic to shatter the loyalty his tribe had shown him in the past.

"He killed them, bathed in their blood, graphed their wings to his ownhe killed his family for vengeance against the Guardian." She looked pointedly at Ranma, tears streaming from her face, white plumage dying red from her tears. "You must go back. Only you can stop him."

"KimaI don't know if I can! I mean, he sent a ki wave the size of this island across the sea from China! How can I hope to defeat him now?" he had not a minute to elaborate on the futility of their situation before his mother appeared in the doorway, hair undone and cascading down her back, the ribbon ritually holding it back severed in her struggle with the Phoenix.

"Son, I believe I will arrange for our transport to China. Nabiki would have but I fear I'll have to take her place for now." Nodoka sat next to Cologne across from Ranma and Kima. "I'll take care of it, don't worry Ranma, we'll save Kasumi. We shall go to Juuban first, you two are welcome in my house, I believe we may need your help later on."

"I agree, such circumstances warrant immediate action. My tribe has already been massacred enough by that tyrant, I pledge my assistance to you son-in-law, Ranma the Guardian!" The ancient old woman sprang from the table for the trees with agility betraying her age. "Shampoo and Mousse will assist us, I shall meet you in Juuban." And with that she was away.

---Phoenix Mountain, the underground library---

Choiler sat in his office, worrying about Kima and the response to their request for aid from the Guardian. Since the time she had left he had sequestered himself in the catacombs underneath the mount, afraid and alone in the candlelight of his studies and laboratories. Saffron had gone mad, of that he was sure, there was no other reason for his murderous behavior and strange chanting he had heard emanating from under the audience chamber, an archaic version of their own primitive dialect lost to the sands of time. At times his forced exile drove him to the brink of madness as imagined and unimagined voices called to him, taunting him into a trap of the most hideous sort, a kind of cosmic jest at his expense. He knew his time was running out, it wouldn't be long now until he would have to face that feral mask of sanity that masquerades the insanity and inhuman forces lurking behind their lord and master.

Noises were coming closer, closing the walls in on him, crushing him to death in formless darkness of the caverns, cold, wet moss rubbing against his feathers as he fled from the searches dispatched by that lord of inhumanity. As a pinhead of light pierced the darkness he knew the effort useless, all at once an old text came to mind, a centuried document from the first generation of the Mount. It was kept under glass in the Forgotten Library under the castle but it seemed to call out from the oldest vestiges of his mind.

"Our god descended from the heavens to reap benefits for his own lord, his is a mockery of life for he cannot truly live with such a cold, black heart. An inhuman monster came from the seas of death, sowing seeds of doom in the soil and making mountains from sand, howling in pain as the ones from above burned his blackened hide.

"As the dark ones went to the rivers of tears and died in the mire of ruin, so too did our fathers and mothers, sister, cousins, brothers-from all positions they came. Weak-willed and loathsome they ate of the dark one's flesh, transfigured into hideous abominations that still haunt the forests today. Let all of the mount know that some who are friends may hide the enemy within."

For all these years they had believed the story fictitious, an olden fable told to teach one wariness of the outsiders, now he understood, after years decades of living under the pall of evil and ignorance he was shown the light of truth. It was _THEIR_ lord that descended with a black heart! Saffron was the agent of the darkness, of that loathsome creature whose decaying remains compose the Desert of Bleached White Bones, where insects live underneath the shifting sands and swallow unwary travelers whole. The people had believed that Saffron was one of the heavens, but he was that agent of evil that called its dying master to land in order to gain it's strength back over the centuries.

It was the main hall that opened to his eyes, Saffron's hideous visage glaring at his squinting form from the platform.

"Lord of Antiquities, so nice of you to join us, we spent so much time scouring the palace for you I thought you dead." He shot a powerful blast of heat across the room to burn Choiler's feathers. "Now since there will be no escape you will join the others. Divus! Take our aged lord to the hatching chamber." He felt rough hands rip him from the ground and drag him out of the chamber in favor of the frozen, dark halls of the palace.

"you cannot do thisSaffron isdemons from the seasdivus you must listen" He babbled as the pain of loosing all his wings blew his mind, the feeling of the sharp stones underfoot cutting his featherless skin.

"You ancient fool, Saffron will bring us to greater glory! He will give us chosen the world when all those impure are driven from it!" Divus roughly threw him into the hatching chamber. Closing the door with a kick.

The hatching chamber was circular and usually held the eggs of those nearly born children. All Choiler found was a gooey membrane covering the walls and the rotting remains of embryos crushed at the peak of birth. Blood ran cold as he realized the vision of Saffron's ultimate goal, he would crush all the people of the world to resurrect the pieces of his master's body and bring about the time of darkness spoken of in their oldest texts. To do it meant no interference from the rest of the Phoenix, so he killed the newborn children.

He was not alone in the chamber, three others were encased in the sticky substance across from him. Three women, no more than girls really, two with brown hair and one with black; he could make out the string of obscenities the youngest was screaming at the oldest. Mercifully he passed out before Divus could return with the librarian's permanent prison.

When he awoke he was encased in an identical cocoon as the three girls. With the veil of pain lessened somewhat he saw that one of the three was the girl the Guardian had come to save. [So this is his plan. Lure the Guardian to his doom and tie up the loose-ends before bringing the darkness. Very cleaver.]

---Saotome household, eight at night---

Ranma couldn't find them. Genma had said the sealed techniques were hidden under a plum tree, and yet Ranma had dug up all six of the trees in their yard and as such found no trace of the scrolls. He'd been digging for hours, sweat and mud pouring off his frame like water as his mother, and Kima, Cologne and Shampoo looked on.

After digging since three, Ranma rested and bathed before returning to the living room where his mother sat making the arrangements for their transportation to China. Cologne sat with Shampoo preparing for their trip, packing herbs and medicinal potions to aid them in reaching Saffron safely, or at least in one piece. He was in pits of despair. Kasumi was taken and would die unless he found the Saotome secret techniques that could conceivably break through Saffron's defenses and hopefully make the battle run smoother than it had last time. Akane and Nabiki had been taken as well, it seemed Saffron wanted to make him suffer far worse tortures than he had previously, and the plan was working perfectly.

He trudged down to the deck, slumping over as the tears began again, the third time today as he lamented his own inability to protect those he loved, Kasumi and Akane both, neither deserved this, he could have prevented it but he just wasn't strong enough. Cologne had gleamed little information from the dying Phoenix that had fallen by his Moku Takabashi, only that Saffron was grander now to his people than ever before, that he would crush the Amazons and rule the Bayankala range with ultimate power. Finally he was silenced by death, as his organs were eaten from the inside out by Ranma's searing emotions consolidated into the blast that hit him.

[Kasumi, I wish you were here. You'd sit behind me, embrace me from behind, whisper in my ear that everything would be alright.' I now it won't, I don't know how, I just know that something terrible is going to happen soon if I don't find those scrolls.] He looked to a print of a geisha behind his mother, finding it a striking resemblance to Kasumi in poise and demeanor. As his eyes once again pierced the picture he caught sight of a fruit and branch off to her right, barely visible to a casual observer, but Ranma was anything but a casual observer. His training over the years had taught him to examine the minute details in everything he saw, leading to his fantastic learning curve.

Leaping across the room and brusquely shoving his mother out of the way, Ranma tore the print from the wall. His mother sat in abject terror that her son's mind had snapped, that he would tear her home apart, but nothing could have been farther from the truth. He slammed the picture frame on the table, knocking the matting and print from the fasteners, and ripped off the matte board from the plum tree in the back. He tore the board to pieces in his search, images of Kasumi and Nabiki, Saffron and Akane flashing before his stunned eyes. Finally the group gathered by his side as the print was revealed to have Genma's less than eloquent handwriting on the back.

"Son! You found the techniques! I'm so proud of you!" Nodoka pulled him into a hug as he stood transfixed by the writing of his late father. "Cologne, Shampoo, I suggest we leave my son alone with the techniques in the dojo. Ranma? Don't you agree?"

He could do nothing but nod as his father's life-work stared back at him from the sheet of parchment. A complex series of movements that took advantage of water and earth to produce it's attacks, deadly moves that could shear a man in half. No letter or bit of explanation was given nor was any needed, any true student of the Anything-Goes school would understand the movements as the basis for most of the school's aerial attacks. He walked without realizing it into the dojo, still analyzing the stances and movements, like water on the paper they flowed one into another, taking things from one and incorporating it into another. In all his life he hadn't known his father so brilliant.

Bowing to the altar and the memory of his father, Ranma began the movements of the Umi-sen-ken. The wind beginning to ripple like water around him.

---"??"---

The Child is growing restless, we must initiate the sortie now.

The Guardian is not yet ready.

Without his power our Lord will never awaken, he must realize his potential now!

We cannot wait any longer for the Guardian to train. The teachings of his father were found and deciphered. We must no allow him a chance to test them.

Our lord will be in contact with the Child soon enough. He will make it clear to him how important our goals are.

Or he will destroy him.

That too. But is that not a predetermined event?

Nothing is set in stone save the teachings of our master. It is to him that we must swear fealty.

The day is almost over, the Guardian has finished, and the sun shall rise over the blood-soaked hills of the world and usher in a new age of darkness and pestilence.

To wipe the unfit from the Earth

It is a necessary price to pay.

---Phoenix Mountain, two days before the ultimatum expires---

Saffron sat upon his throne of gold and light, wings fluttering as he expelled the filth from the mountain. Around him were his generals, those of bent and corrupt means, those who would gladly sacrifice their own families for greater power. Waves of energy crackled down the walls of the fortress, following the corridors of rock and granite until burning inhabits who had not come from his time and flesh. Only those who had a part of the master's body would survive the onslaught, those born of the inextinguishable fire, who would burn brightly throughout the cosmos.

Divus stood at his right side, eye sewn shut and scarred from his battle with the guardian; battle scars he would say to those who asked. Assembled generals talked amongst themselves, questioning how the purge would come about, how the impure would be burned from the earth. Saffron allowed Divus his rants, as he was pondering matters of far more reaching implications. His master had ordered a meeting, his spirit would commune with ultimate power and receive his new orders.

"Divus, leave me. Take the others with you." Saffron did not glance at him, merely extended a hand and gestured to the door.

"Yes my liege. Everyone! We will retire to the main audience chamber." Divus flew lopsidedly away from the raised dais, the other generals following closely behind. As the great stone doors of the hall slammed shut, Saffron rose from his throne and ran his palm against the smooth bas-relief carved into the wall behind him. The stone yielded, running like syrup between his fingers, rising off the wall and forming a twisting, whirling pillar of fluid from the sheer stone.

The liquid was fire, the stone was power, Saffron watched as the melted mass of magma began to shift and writhe like fire, surrounding the grisly amalgamation of limbs that sat and giggled at the centre of it's being. The great lord himself, he who had challenged the heavens powers and lost his corporeal form, the great lord of the fire had returned. Many limbed talons sprang from the pulsing blob of flame, the burning mercurious fluid dancing along the walls like flame, and a rough composite of eyes and a formless mouth erupted from the surface of the wall. The torches hung from around the hall ate along the walls until the entire room burned like the surface of the sun. Arms shot from the walls, thousands of flaming limbs entangling his own, searing his flesh and scalding his bones.

After an eternity, the form spoke from it's chortling, a voice dislocated from our reality came into our universe. Ever so faintly it gained in pitch until the horrifying bass rang through Saffron's skull.

"SAFFRON. LOYAL GUARD OF THE FLAME, HONORED GENERAL OF MY FIRE, I COME TO YOU NOW AND DECLARE THE END OF THIS REALM. THE GUARDIAN YET STANDS IN OUR WAY, NOW IS THE TIME TO STRIKE." A wheezing death-rattle echoed off the walls. "STALK HIMTEAR HIM APARTAND DELIVER HIS SOUL TO ME."

Saffron lowered his head as far as the burning tendrils of napalm would allow. "He will come, my lord. I have things which are precious to him. He will come."

"YOUR PROMISES DO NOT INTEREST ME, SAFFRON. ONLY YOUR DEEDS, AND RECENTLY YOU HAVE HAD NONE TO BE PRAISEWORTHY OF. HUMBLED BY A HUMAN, EVEN IF HE IS THE GUARDIAN, IS A FAILURE PUNISHABLE BY DEATH, YET I HAVE SPARED YOU. DO YOU KNOW WHY?"

"Why have you done this my liege?" The napalm shackles seared his flesh further.

"BECAUSE YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE OF MY CHILDREN TO SURVIVE! I DO NOT DO THIS BECAUSE YOU ARE CAPABLE, I DO IT BECAUSE YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE. DO NOT MISTAKE MY GENEROSITY FOR EVEN A PASSING AFFECTION, I WOULD RATHER SPIT ON YOU THAN SPEAK TO YOU; BUT KNOW THIS, IF YOU SUCEED YOU SHALL HAVE BOONS UNHEARD OF IN YOUR LIFE." The anger subsided, the tremors of energy rippling off the walls, tossing him back and forth like a leaf in the breeze. "I HAVE GIVEN YOU THE MEANS TO POWER, IT IS UP TO YOU TO USE IT. I HAVE SHARED THE FLAME WITH YOU AND I CAN EASILY TAKE IT AWAY."

"I will not fail you my lord. The Guardian will die, I will crush his heart in my hands and devour his entrails, you will have your time." Saffron was slowly lowered from the air, and as the tendrils disappeared, smoking bone and marrow gleamed from his arms and legs, and in a split-second they were gone, replaced by healthy flesh.

"HEED MY WILL, SAFFRON, I WILL BROOK NO EXCUSES! NOT FROM ANYONE, NOT FOR ANY REASON! WHILE THE POWERS CONSOLIDATE, I AM LEFT NON-CORPOREAL. GIVING MY ENEMIES THE TIME THEY REQUIRE TO PLAN MY PERSONAL DOWNFALL, THEY SEEK TO AWAKEN _HIM_. IF _HE_ AWAKES THEN I SHALL FALL, AND IF I FALL YOU FALL TOO." The smoke cleared, the air blew fresh and clean again, the walls were stone once more, and the bas-relief loomed over Saffron once again. As the Phoenix lord shivered from the energies released, his master's voice drifted with the dust settling in the room.

"i will not tolerate failureeven if you die, fulfill your goal"

---to be continued---

For those of you wondering where my fanfiction is located then please refer to the following list.

Lady Cosmos: 

http://www.crosswinds.net/~ladycosmos

Zaxxon: 

http://sfcreators.com/Atlantis/FanFic/Other/DrSuekeiichiKaiton/

Hawk: 

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/6189/

Phu: 

http://members.nbci.com/phu_lam

The Lost One: 

http://ranmaxovers.tripod.com

The Church of Kasumi and Ranma: http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/KasumiandRanma

Tannim:

http://home.earthlink.net/~tannim

Nighthawk:

http://www.geocities.com/nighthawk/hosted.htm

and

Fanfiction.net!

As always, C&C, flames to:

Suekeiichi Kaiton, 

Holy Scribe and Second Disciple

The Church of Kasumi and Ranma

Vze2jcwc@verizon.net


	4. The Last Chapter

Note: I don't own the characters, I just play around with them.

Ranma 1/2: Cyclopean Structure Vol. 1-Destiny Lost

"Had I not known that I was dead

"Already

"I would have mourned

"The loss

"Of my Life."

-Ota Dokan

---Phoenix Mountain, China---

Choiler sagged against the elastic bound that left him suspended three feet off the ground. He ate very little of what the guards gave him, as did the other prisoners hung around him, the cavern reeked with the stench of sulfur, sweat, and excrement. The remains of the children massacred while still in the shell have begun to stink. They had been up for a long time, centuries he felt had passed as the steady stink of decaying flesh permeated the air. It must not have been so long, Saffron had only given the Guardian 72 hours to defeat him, it must be the second day by now, or perhaps a shift in time had occurred to lengthen the minutes. Either one way or another, the three girls hanging beside him seemed in far worse shape than he, the youngest whom Ranma had fought for before was the worst.

The girl's mind had been shattered, burst into thousands of dimensions and never holding true to one for more than an instant. Obscenities streamed from her tongue like water and the tears that came soon afterward were worse, the rapid shifting of emotion must have been tearing the poor girl apart. Choiler's chin sank back into the graying plumage of his chest, a weary sigh for the lost sanity of the world escaping his lips. The age old times were coming around once more to put mere mortals in their place, they were breaking free from the bindings the Elder Gods placed upon them. Soon the world would be shattered by the startling revelation of the cosmos and the ordinary person would be driven mad by the singing of their blood. The Great Old Ones would break free and command their world again or perhaps move on to more venerable pastures.

The Guardian was the only one who could save their poor Earth from insanity, only he could grasp the siren in his blood and conquer it to save the cosmos at large from the threat of extraterrestrial beings. Perhaps the Great Old Ones were mere insignificant specks upon the face of the galaxy themselves which threw his mind into a dervish of threats and beings far worse and much more powerful than before. Choiler listened as the youngest began another of her rants, every obscenity punctuated by the sobbing of the eldest. [Come savior, some and dispel the fires of Cthugua!]

---Tokyo Haneda Airport---

Nodoka Saotome was a woman of means, her family's samurai blood ran deep in the area and she was able to procure a personal airplane without too much trouble, especially considering the massacre of the Kuno family and Genma's death at the hands of Divus, new seneschal of Phoenix Mountain. The wounded and weak Kiima had told them of his treachery and unsavory habits, further proof she said of Saffron's growing madness. Her lord was ruined in mind and body, she feared Choiler captured as no messenger birds arrived bearing his ancient seal. Timing was everything if the group wished to save the Tendo daughters. Nodoka's eyes swept across the interior at the commando team they had managed to assemble.

Shampoo and Mousse sat across from each other, both staring frightfully at Ranma as he sat cross-legged meditating. Ukyo sharpened her spatula as Tsubasa and Konatsu glared at each other across the aisle, the jealousy potent in the surrounding air. Cologne sat as she reviewed the information she had been able to find on the basic layout of Phoenix Mountain. Ryoga sat across from Ranma near the front, worry etched across his face for Akane as Ranma's crystal blue aura radiated off his body like heat. Kiima sat beside him, in her cursed form as not to aggravate her injuries, the more time she spent in her cursed form, the faster her true form would recover. Nodoka took the seat next to Ryoga, watching her son mentally practice the forbidden techniques he had spent all night learning.

"Are you ready, my son? We're ready to take off." [We have to leave by nine if we are to have any hope at all of reaching the Bayankala range by the ultimatum.] "Buckle up dear, everything will be alright." [I wish a truly felt as positive as I sound.] She placed the Saotome family katana across her lap, wrapped but in easy reach if need be, and hesitantly touched Ranma's cloth-covered shoulder. "Son?"

His eyes flew open and she could feel the air grow heavy at his gaze. His expression softened and the air grew thin again. "I'm fine mother, justnervous that's all." He sat back in his seat and buckled his safety belt. "We have to reach the mount in time, mother, I hope you understand that."

"I do, Ranma, this plane will have us in the Bayankala range before noon, twelve hours before the deadline." She patted him on the shoulder, reassuring him of their impending success. "Just relax, you need to save your strength." He looked out the window as the plane began to heat up.

As the propellers began to stir and the engine began it's gentle vibration of the cabin, Ranma pressed his head to the cool glass and closed his eyes.

---"?"---

Preparations for the ritual have been completed.

Good, the child has prepared for the Guardian's assault, the barriers will not be broken through easily.

That is the way it should be

The Guardian should show us his true power.

However, he is already in China and rapidly approaching the child, he has grown in strength.

Remarkableto have gained such power in so little time there can be no doubt!

Do not get carried away just yetthese humans are very malleable, they change so quickly.

You are rightwe shall have to wait and see what transpires

---Military airstrip #15, near the Bayankala range, China---

"Ranma. Son, wake up." Nodoka gently prodded her son again as he slept with his face on the cool glass. Cologne was already outside arguing with the Chinese officer about their passports but Nodoka had faith in the bribes she'd given the soldiers beforehand. In this kind of area especially, people had need of money. As she watched her son awaken from charnel nightmares of green drenched cyclopean vistas, she marveled at the change wrought upon him over one night.

His eyes were dark, sunken in with a certain weariness about them. He walked, or rather plodded like a man on his way to be hanged and his posture was poor compared to the confidence he usually displayed. Nodoka could see very clearly what Kasumi meant to Ranma and wished him god-speed in his rescue, she really had no idea what would happen to him if she died.

"Thanks mom. Where are we?" Ranma shouldered his pack and looked around as the rest of their entourage prepared to leave. Ukyo and Ryoga were testing their weapons, making sure no slight imperfections would hamper their quest as Kotatsu, Tsubasa and Mousse sharpened their weapons. He absently noted that Shampoo, Cologne and Kiima were missing, no doubt outside dealing with the authorities.

"A military airstrip not far from Jusenkyo, it was the closest landing spot to Phoenix Mountain. Kiima told me it won't be too far a hike and that we should arrive with plenty of time, well before dark I'd imagine." Nodoka tried to cheer Ranma up, smiling and fretting about his appearance as he stretched as they disembarked. Just as she had predicted, the bribes had worked and they were free to leave.

Ranma watched as Kiima approached with Cologne and Shampoo, her human skin flawless and just a little pink, almost at perfect health. She beamed a smile to the assemblage through Akane's face, although any one of them could see it was strained with worry and pain. Shampoo quietly joined Mousse and the others while Cologne came up along side Nodoka.

"Son-in-law, I mean, Ranma, it seems Saffron has been causing quite a stir around the area. These officers told us that bright lights can be seen during the night around Phoenix Mountain. There have also been reports of kidnappings, people from nearby villages snatched off the ground by winged demons'. I would imagine that those would be Saffron's scouts, we must be cautious in this place." Cologne pogoed along side the group as they left the airfield and into the rocky mountains surrounding Jusenkyo. For some of them, Ukyo, Tsubasa, Kotatsu and Nodoka the breathtaking scenery left them speechless. For those that had been touched by the pools of sorrow, the landscape was one from the deepest depths of Hell, a purgatory of rock and grass.

All through the day they hiked, stopping only once for lunch then swiftly on the move again, the safety of the Tendo daughter's spurring them forward despite the fear gnawing at the souls of those chosen few who would stand against a god. Cologne and Shampoo wisely avoided Jusenkyo and their village as well as several musk encampments on their trek towards the jagged spire of Phoenix Mountain and the righteous fury of Saffron.

Ryoga stumbled his way through the dense forest, always holding onto Ukyo's belt so he would not lose his way. He blamed Ranma for the mess they found themselves in, as everything in his life was orchestrated by Ranma. His life was nothing but an endless cycle of vengeance and hatred, fueled by the visage of Ranma holding Akane, his Akane, the only light in his life. Anger welled up from inside him as Ranma strut in front of them as they hacked their way through the foothills. Still, he hated to acknowledge it but Ranma was their best chance at getting Akane back, he himself was powerless against the Phoenix King. And so, swallowing his pride, Ryoga Hibiki followed his arch-rival into the mouth of Hell.

Ukyo grunted lightly as Ryoga slowed again, the slight tug on her waist followed by the crush of the underbrush as his feet began to move again. She found that while Kasumi was her rival for Ranma's affections she did truly like the girl, she didn't want to see anything happen to her because of what it would do to Ranma's heart. Not wholly selfish like Ryoga, she knew who Ranma loved and accepted it, even if it was subconsciously. She knew she had lost the fight. Ukyo Kuonji followed her best friend on his quest, determined to aid him in his search for love. Tsubasa and Kotatsu had thankfully stopped their petty quarreling and were merely glaring at each other as they cut a path ahead of Ukyo, neither knew it just yet, but both would become lowly witnesses to a battle of epic proportions. Were either of them worthy of viewing such an event? No, but they would see it all the same and return changed men. No one in the group would leave the Bayankala range quite the same as when they entered. 

They approached Phoenix Mountain as a group, knowing as they did that Saffron has no doubt posted sentries around the perimeter. Ranma took point, Ryoga and Mousse following before Ukyo, Shampoo, Nodoka and Cologne with Tsubasa and Kotatsu taking the rear; together they walked through the forest. The pigtailed youth began to look around more and more wildly the closer they came, he could feel eyes peering at him through the trees. As they appeared in the clearing to Phoenix Mountain he saw one.

It was squat, a fat bloated beast with glazed eyes and many limbs, a broken monstrosity from eons past resurrected to serve its master once more. Ranma yelped then fell back at Ryoga to break off the gaze, for at that moment he saw it, he knew that it had seen him. He was thrown back into the present as his vision ricocheted back from miles of forest. The vision was disturbing to say the least, but for right now he had more important things to worry about.

"Ranma! Ranma! Snap out of it!" Ryoga slapped him hard across the face. Ranma shook his head before nodding and looking up at the open area where Saffron waited. 

"Where is Kasumi?!?"

"Up therein the Birthing Chamber I would imagine." Kiima touched his arm with her cursed fingers, ignoring his involuntary shudder as Akane's fingers dragged across his skin, before pointing up at the illuminated skyline. "The light is thereat the top chamber." The darkness above was broken only by the fiery aura of power rolling from the ventilation holes at the very top of the mount.

"Is there an easy way up? Through the tunnels?" Ranma touched the rough stone face, looking up at the flaming corona at the mountain peak.

"No. It would take hours to get up there through the tunnels. By that time it will be too late." Kiima checked her satchel for the canteen of water. "It would be faster to scale the wall but we have traps along it's face."

"Alright then." Ranma lifted Kiima then leapt from the dirt and ran straight up the mountain. "You'll have to tell me where they are!" He was nearly vertical by the time the first trap appeared. Below, Ryoga and the rest followed, Nodoka and Cologne wisely waiting at the mountain's base.

And so they went, dodging boulders and arrows shot by the Phoenix until the summit was in sight. All around them were the debris of the mountain previously holding Saffron's chamber and the ruin of the mountain's peak. Nodoka and Cologne watched his ascension with worry while Saffron himself seemed unafraid.

The Phoenix king sat, resplendent in flames, upon a gilded throne amid the rotten devastation of the birthing chamber. The decomposing remains of the last generation of Phoenix were burned to ash by a simple wave of his hand. Choiler and the Tendo sisters hung from the protoplasmic goo lining the cavern walls. The one-eyed Divus snarled as reports came in from the battlements, the intruders were proving stronger and stronger then they had previously believed.

"Divus," Saffron moved his hand fractionally, "destroy them."

"Yes my Lord," Divus smashed his gold wing carapaces before striding through the double doors. As they began to shut, Saffron's voice rang out.

"And Divus"

"Yes?" He stopped.

"Don't come back if you fail." Divus saluted before leaping out the window. Saffron grinned, exposing long pointed teeth. He stood, stretching out his 26 wings and addressed the trapped assemblage. "I am curious as to your guardian's powers. My Lord has decreed I may have the honor of killing him myself. As for the rest of you, I will leave you to Divus' tender merciesif he survives." He raised his arms to the heavens. The air whirled away from the awful unholy flesh of Saffron as power thrummed off the hallowed walls of the Mount. A slow, methodical thump began in the chamber, faintly then rising in volume until Choiler and the Tendo sisters knew it was the beating of Saffron's titanic heart. He gloated as the ceremony began, his regal voice twisted with insanity and malice.

"IA! IA! CTHULHU FATGHN! CTHUGUA DISMONACH!" The wings upon his back began to glow, green tendrils of energy wrapping around him from where they seeped from the stones themselves. They lifted their son slowly off the ground, his wings spread out behind him like a charnel halo, slowly powers long dormant in the world of man began to gather.

"ISIRIAN EIBON! CTHUGUA PGTHOTH! FTGHAN CTHULHU!!!!!!!" A sunburst of power ripped through the cavern and burst the ceiling outward, lighting the sky afire. The fire spread across the atmosphere, burning away the old order of man and ushering in a new world, a new dimension of existence. Abominations once lost to the seas of time raised their ruined limbs to the stars, the outcast amazons who survived after generations of incestuous breeding broke into chant as their lord neared the threshold. A cry arose in the Bayankala range, long a region of magic and power, a cry which tore the earth and cracked the sky. The cacophony arose from everywhere, simultaneously everywhere and nowhere as their sonorous chant rose in pitch from around the world. Jusenkyo dried to nothing, the forest wilted to twigs and mountains quaked in the presence of the oldest of rituals

The incantation of Azathoth.

Kiima grasped tighter onto Ranma's back as the moaning of those nameless sogoths rose to a fever pitch. The sky was blinding with Cthugua's power but the air grew icy and sharp, so much so that the thin frock Kiima wore over her human guise fell away like tissue paper underneath the onslaught of the chilling gusts. The voices were almost a palpable force, a physical presence that pushed them away from the ground and further up the slippery rocks of the mountain.

"Above! Phoenix warriors!" Ryoga fired Shi-Shi Hokudan at the winged centurions as they rushed from the openings further up the side. A Flurry of arrows was quickly burned to ash by the depression-fueled energy blast and three Phoenix fell screaming to their deaths. Ranma tensed as Kiima's nails dug into his back as she saw a curious winged shadow descend upon their party. The Phoenix flew overhead and a hail of rocks and silt rained down on the desperate combatants. 

"Kiima! Filthy whore of the Japanese barbarian! Face me!" Divus drew his jade sword and flew by, taking a swing at Ryoga. "Face me as a true Phoenix!"

Kiima opened her thermos and splashed herself, simultaneously pushing off of Ranma's back and launching herself at the butcher. A harsh sound erupted from her throat and her newly healed appendages ripped from her human flesh. "DIVUS! You cannot call yourself Phoenix for what you have done to my tribe! Butcher! How dare you destroy one single egg!" Her steel sword clashed overhead.

"Keep moving!" Ranma scrambled up the sheer cliff face until the birthing chamber came into view. He leapt quickly through the window just as Saffron smirked in victory, prepared to utter the final word

"BEAIL THOGGOTH! TUMASH KUSHATC!" Choiler screamed from the wall of the cavern. Suddenly the world seemed to freeze, everything stopped, the lighting and fire winked out abruptly and darkness reigned for a moment. Not even shadows wished to move as reality skipped a beat, the cosmic workings — cogs if you will — of the universe shifted and new possibilities made manifest in that single instant. The next everything was back again, time speeding by quickly to make up for the lapse and everything was cut off, the formless parabola of power gone as suddenly as it appeared. Saffron's face contorted as the monstrous chorus of syllabic voices emanating from the forest disappeared. There appeared an unmistakable grimace of incredible longing and incredible outrage on Saffron's face.

"Ha, you disregarded my years as librarian. I have read all the ancient texts many times, my lord," the last was spat in disgust. Choiler lifted his aged head in clear defiance as Saffron disintegrated the Librarian of Phoenix Mountain. The blast was glowing crimson, a serpent of blue wrapped firmly around a shaft of crimson as it drilled through Choiler's body. It hit him below the sternum, the cold azure swirl of plasma crystallizing his flesh until the super-heated corona melted his torso. Saffron lowered his hand to watch in satisfaction as the head and shoulders of the librarian splattered into his lap.

"Give Kasumi back!" Ranma growled at the God as the green tendrils of light lifted the feral creature high into the night sky.

"You presume to defeat me again?" Saffron hurled a ball of arcane energy at Ranma, who narrowly dodged the blast and watched as the rock melted like ice under a blowtorch. The god threw blast after blast at his opponent, laughing heartily as the blows burned Ranma's clothes and scorched the flesh underneath. "You presume too much!"

The pig-tailed youth leapt at the Phoenix King intending to score a definite blow, instead Saffron's hands whipped around faster than he could trace and clutched his throat. "G-give!!!!" He felt the subtle crackling of cartilage as the monster increased his grip. Ranma kicked wildly at Saffron's legs, breaking one knee so that it bent backwards like an animal's, and felt the grip loosen. He jumped to the farthest corner of the birthing chamber where the melting rock was just cooling down.

"Die trash!!!!" The Child grasped the Guardian's arm and hurled him out through the roof, knocking him through eighteen feet of solid rock and dirt until he spun endlessly in the night sky. Beneath them Kiima and Divus clashed and the Phoenix rallied against the Guardian's companions. The Child followed swiftly and impaled the champion with needle-point fingernails, following the blow with the insertion of his arm up to the elbow into the Guardian's abdomen. The Guardian opened his mouth but nothing came out but a torrent of blood, red vomit splattering on the face of the triumphant Child. "HA! You fall now, bastard spawn of the Father!" The Child threw the impaled carcass out towards the dense forest surrounding the Mountain and flew after his crippled prey, laughing madly in glee. Layers of rock and earth were blasted by the evil powers of the Child as he burrowed through the mountain and erupted into the cold night sky with a volcanic explosion that sent great gouts of molten rock flying every which way.

The Guardian tumbled through the air, blood splashing his face as it poured from the open wound in his stomach, he could see his intestine trailing a pace behind, the bloody opaque organ slapping the back of his head with each revolution. Pain lanced from his cuts and bruises, the major wound was painless strangely enough, but he managed to fire three Moku Takabashi at the oncoming Child, slowing his approach by mere moments. The Guardian rallied to unfold his body from the reflexive fetal curl, fought the unconsciousness creeping into the sides of his vision as his fluids gushed from the injury rent into the fabric of his flesh.

The Child tore through the currents of icy air, rocketing to his mortally wounded foe. Both hands reached out and grasped the Guardian's arms under the armpits and hauled him back to the glowing ruin of the mountain. His devilish chortle echoed from the night sky to the deepest reaches of space, awaking being long thought dead — roused only long enough to witness the final death of the despised Guardian.

From the infinite depths of the cosmos, those of ill breeding of insanity raised their heads in gracious exhalation as the Guardian was struck again and again. The stars continued on in their eternal clock, invisible hands moving closer and closer to the final stroke of Midnight at the centre of the universe. Beings that could not die, beings that had no form, all gathered in the backlash of such eldritch emanations of power from such a backwater planet in the middle of nowhere, the inhabitants were beneath notice, primitive lifeforms that had no business in the grand scheme of the cosmos. The gibbering power at the centre, it's energies resonating with the power of it's Child, let out a howl of victory and rained blows against the metaphysical prison of it's own making.

Nothing in the universe breathed, nothing in the universe blinked, nothing in the universe had substance after bearing witness to such titanic amounts of power that by all rights they melted into puddles of their own constituent parts or else went mad with the revelation of what they saw. The darkness was loosed again upon an unsuspecting cosmos, God help any that stood in its way.

The guardian's body landed with a sickening squish as his blood and intestinal fluids cascaded over the hot rock and protoplasmic phlegm of the restraints. A weak groan sounded from his lips and he hardly felt it when the Child landed roughly in his back and tore the hole further with razor claws. The latter was in the throes of perverse joy and laughed like a small child as the bile and blood spattered his body and coveted wings, Nabiki vomited loudly in her sack and looked away at the massacre. Kasumi was soundless as she watched The Child rip The Guardian apart. Her eyes wide as the full moon which awakened this evil, her lip trembling in anguish and loss as The Child dug his claws into her love's skull and hoisted his head upward, dragging the rest of The Guardian's ravaged body bonelessly behind. The half-glazed eyes pierced her heart from the pale sockets, he was in paindying and she could do nothing.

"You." The Child shoved the Guardian's face into the stone, mashing the man's nose to a pulpy mass of cartilage and bone. 

"Cannot." His hand, still in the Guardian's skull, came crashing down again.

"Defeat." His teeth were broken off at the root by the next blow.

"Me!" The Child spat napalm into the ruined face and tossed him beside the smoking remains of Choiler. The Guardian was as good as dead, he had already lost enough blood to be fatal, not to mention the blows to the skull and torso. Watery pale eyes looked up from the mass of blood and broken bones, still glaring defiance in his death throes.

"You are not what I wantedyour powers had not been made manifest to me, you are weak puny human. Perhaps something more is needed for you to awaken." The Child smiled his sharp-toothed grin and licked his lips in anticipation of the killing that was to take place. His eyes were blood red by now and his wings flapped ceaselessly as a deathly nailed hand swept over the chamber and spread a line of fire to burn away the impurities of the flesh.

Gray-black ooze burned to ash and released the bodies of the Tendo sisters, Kasumi and Nabiki landing painfully on their posteriors while Akane fell in a crouch. The crumbled remains of the goo floated down like ashen snow and blanketed the area, clumping into red mush when mixed with the Guardian's fresh blood and the fluids of the eviscerated children of Phoenix Mountain. The Child smirked as Akane rose from her feet and looked at the beaten pulp that continued to exist as Ranma Saotome in this life.

At first she started to move towards him but then her face turned to a feral scowl and she stomped over to where Kasumi lay against the wall. "Ranma, I'll take care of this obstacle and then we can be together again!" Akane's shadow loomed over Kasumi's curled form. Her firsts were clenched in fury. "Ranma! I know you love me!" She had lost whatever control she had over her own mind. The Child continued laughing as his toy threw Kasumi against the rock walls, licking the Guardian's innards from his talons. "I'll dispose of this bimbo then you can take me off to paradise!" A ki aura fell over her first, the glowing blue denoting jealousy and anger. Kasumi whimpered as her sister bore down upon her.

The Guardian was powerless to do anythinghe was dead.

Her fist came down slowly, each agonizing moment akin to an eternity. Akane's eyes were deep pits of insanity, her smile a hideous rictus of horror. Kasumi looked to her champion in the last, at her one love dying on the floorperhaps already dead. She was ready to join him in heaven. Akane's fist's shadow descended to her head

Time stopped.

There was a wet sound, a vacuous sucking that astonished all present.

All at once every living being rallied against the darkness. Limitless living creatures fought against the invading darkness, as if everyone were part of another, and they landed blows against the powers of The Void. The Child, The Guardian, they were nothing more than physical manifestations of something far more primitive and metaphysical; the sides had waited too long for the battle to begin. Time waited for the sweet release of death, the Dark One's influence surging against the forces of light. Everything that was once dead was alive at that instant, and everything alive felt dead.

Suddenly the moment passed, time resuming its normal flow, flying in the face of terror.

What remained of Kasumi's angelic features were smeared on Akane's arm up to the shoulder. Gore slid slowly down the rough hewn walls. The Madness withdrew her arm from what remained of The Innocent's neck, spilling her lungs and heart on the floor, looking in surprised shock at what she had done.

The Guardian's eyes went black.

Light. Glorious white, Holy. Burning, searing, tearing, gutting, biting, pulling, crunching, lifting, breaking, eating, puncturing, sucking life. All around them it expanded, wavering in resonance with a primal scream. Outlined in the blast, a burning husk of flesh bereft of mind or sanity, screaming devotion to the dead. Kiima was swallowed by the nova and felt her feathers seared away yet again but there was no pain. Divus fell from the heavens, wings mangled, and plummeted through the earth as soil was ripped away from the skin of the planet. Ryouga and Ukyo, Shampoo and Cologne and Mousse, everyone stopped as the sphere of destructive calm over came them all. The universe shook as the blast changed the very chains of life around the cosmos. Phoenix Mountain was blown away by the power and its inhabitants scattered to the four winds.

In the centre of the chaos that determined the rebirth of hope and love a being screamed an endless scream of disbelief and fury. The Child swirled in the anti-matter of creation and in pairs his twenty-two coveted wings burned away with holy fervor until nothing remained in The Void except Saffron. Saffron, screaming from the brimstone reek of Hell. The calamity was almost finished, the cataclysm that would disappear to peoples of the 'real' world but remain firm in the true people's minds until the day creation ended.

"Destiny" The being of flame screamed with tongues of hatred. "You CannotDESTINNNNNNNYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The formless enemies of life emerged once more from their sleep and all around the world the light was extinguished. A fog rose from the iridescent bubble until the phenomena itself dissipated in the morning air, wisps of memories and hopes burned away by the filament of Sol reaching out with her destructive hand.

Destiny had been satiated

Destiny had been lost

Destiny would rise again

A lingering scream echoed from the summit of Phoenix Mountain.

---The End---

The end of Destiny Lost, but only the beginning of Ranma's story. I know it seems kind of short but this is the logical place to stop given the title, Ranma has lost his destiny. He is nothing and has nothing but this is not the end. Join Ranma on his quest for new life in:

Ranma 1/2: Cyclopean Structure Volume Two - Destiny Found.

As always,

C&C to

Suekeiichi Kaiton

Vze2jcwc@verizon.net


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